Ten migrants from Colombia reportedly drowned in Panama

Panamanian security forces reported on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, that ten migrants, whose bodies have not been located, “drowned” supposedly days ago in a Caribbean area of ​​Panama, where they had arrived from Colombia, taking a shorter route through the Darien jungle on their migratory journey to North America.

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“The National Border Service (Senafront) makes public knowledge that, according to information received, In the riverside tributaries near the community of Carreto, ten bodies of migrants who drowned due to a high water level were observed”the border police force announced in a statement.

Senafront believes that there could be “buried these bodies to cover up their criminal links to migrant trafficking”but it has not yet been possible to locate the bodies.

“(The bodies) are known to be in the sector, yes, but still The formal exhumation process has not taken place or a process following the preliminary investigation, which is the stage we are currently in… that is why we are talking about suspects, because we are still not sure,” a source from the Border Police, who preferred to remain anonymous, clarified to EFE.

He pointed out that information was provided to them from the indigenous population of Carreto that “There were people who were buried near the community”but noted that they do not have “a specific date for the incident, as the investigations are still being carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.”

The Panamanian newspaper La Prensa collected testimonies within the indigenous community, where they were assured that, On July 15, migrants told them that a river flood had swept away several people, but that, despite searching for the bodies, they never found them.

There are several migrant routes

Senafront insisted through the statement that They are trying to “channel irregular migration through the humanitarian corridor that offers greater protection to the migrant population,” He therefore regretted that “organized crime, through local collaborators in these Caribbean coastal communities, insists on using unauthorized crossings, putting the lives of these people at serious risk.”

“Senafront reiterates that The authorized passage for irregular migration is the one that leads to Cañas Blancas, where specialized patrols are available for their protection and humanitarian assistance,” he stressed.

According to information from 2023 from the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which was providing services in Darien until its operating permit was not renewed this year, The route through Carreto, in the Panamanian Caribbean, is the most expensive, having to pay up to 550 dollars to take a boat from Capurganá, in Colombia, to that community, and then walk for two or four days through the jungle to reach the indigenous community of Canaán Membrillo.

Since the new administration of President José Raúl Mulino began on July 1, several measures have been taken to trying to reduce the flow of migrants through the dangerous Darien jungle, More than 216,000 migrants have already crossed it so far this year, most of them Venezuelans, while in all of 2023 there were more than 520,000, an unprecedented figure, according to official data from Panama.

Among these measures, Since July 3, Panama has progressively fenced off its territory with “perimeter barriers” (barbed wire fences) some 4.7 kilometers in Darien, where there were at least five unauthorized crossings or trails, to “channel” the flow of migrants through a “humanitarian corridor.”

Darien is a jungle that forms a natural border between Panama and Colombia, with a length of 266 kilometers. Crossed by migrants on their way to North America, they often face dangers such as sudden flooding of rivers or attacks by wild animals or armed groups, who charge migrants for passage or rob them, sometimes also making them victims of sexual abuse.

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